Saints Want Brees For a Long Time; Not Sure on Bush

The Saints are commited to Drew Brees as the future of their franchise but are unsure about Reggie Bush according to Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com.

Loomis said Wednesday that a contract extension will ultimately be finalized with Brees. The Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLIV is entering the final year of a six-year, $60 million deal he signed in 2006. Brees is set to earn $7.4 million in base salary in 2011.

“It’s pretty clear that we’re going to want to have Drew under contract for the long term,” Loomis told me and co-host Jim Miller on Sirius NFL radio. “I know that will happen at some point. He knows that will happen at some point.”

Loomis, though, didn’t make the same strong commitment when asked about Bush. Although a big-name player and key part of the team’s 2009 Super Bowl run, Bush is set to earn $11.8 million in 2011. He also is coming off an injury-plagued 2010 campaign.

Bush has publicly said he is willing to renegotiate his exorbitant rookie contract to remain with New Orleans, which made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft. The question now is whether Saints management wants him and at what price.

“We’ve talked a lot about the position (internally) because we had a lot of injuries,” said Loomis, whose team lost quality rushers like Pierre Thomas, Chris Ivory and Ladell Betts during the course of the season. “It’s pretty difficult to prognosticate injuries. I’ve got to be a little careful about just because a guy was hurt one year assuming he’s going to get hurt the next. We’re going through that evaluation process right now.”